Your legacy contact is the person who will tell Permanent.org that you have passed. This will activate the legacy plan you have created for your archives. Your legacy contact does not need to be a member of Permanent.org.
Imagine that your Permanent.org archives live inside a locked house in various locked rooms, drawers, and cabinets. Your legacy contact is the one who holds the key to unlocking the house so that others can access the treasures within.
Archive Steward
An archive steward is the person who will take ownership of your archive when your legacy plan is activated. You can have a different archive steward for each archive you own. Your archive steward must be a member of Permanent.org, as they will take ownership of your archive on Permanent.org after you have passed.
In our example, your archive stewards each have a key that unlocks a room, drawer, or cabinet inside the house that contains your archives. Each individual only has access to the specific archive you've designated to them.